This article is also available in:
Deutsch: ENDitorial: Nach wachsender Kritik versucht sich Malmström von Neztsp...
Over the last two weeks, Commissioner Malmström has made several determined efforts to distance herself from Internet blocking and related policies supported by her and her services.
In June of last year, DG Justice, Freedom and Security (which is now under Commissioner Malmström's responsibility) proposed Internet blocking as well as revoking of IP addresses and domain names. When the same policies were copied and pasted into a Council of Ministers document recently, Commissioner Malmström used her blog to present this as proof that that these proposals were not hers and, oddly, that it is too early for the Commission to fully understand what the Council meant when it put forward these ideas.
The Commissioner also tried to argue in a recent meeting of the Civil Liberties Committee meeting that blocking, which was launched by her services under her leadership, is not just her policy, but that of the Commission as a whole (which is, of course, true, due to the "collegial" nature of the institution). In order to encourage this impression she has been trying to persuade her Liberal colleague Neelie Kroes to add blocking to the Digital Agenda, even though it was not mentioned in any version up until shortly before publication. In the end, Commissioner Kroes chose not to include unequivocal support for blocking in the document - although probably because it would have been incongruous rather than due to any lack of support for her colleague.
One of the reasons for Commissioner Malmström's desire to distance herself from this measure may be the European Data Protection Supervisor's (EDPS) recent Opinion on the proposal. While being critical of the measure in general, as well as its possible implications, the EDPS made a point of condemning the lawless, privatised restrictions on freedom of communication that have been publicly supported by the Commissioner. In a criticism that goes far beyond Internet blocking and which has major implications for the "self-regulatory" approaches proposed by the Commission, which aim to push Internet Service Providers into proactive Internet police, he stressed "that a code of conduct or voluntary guidelines would not bring enough legal certainty".
While Commissioner Malmström is focusing on the symptom (websites containing illegal material), Commissioner Reding (who has responsibility for child rights) has taken the initiative to launch a dialogue with the United States authorities to ensure that the worst child abuse material is taken offline as soon as possible. Following the crackdown on such material in Russia after pressure from the EU, positive cooperation with the United States would be a major step forward in dealing with web-based abuse material.
In the European Parliament, this week will see the first meeting of the MEP responsible for the blocking dossier (Roberta Angelilli, EPP, Italy)(the "rapporteur", in Eurospeak) with the MEPs responsible for the dossier from each of the other political groups ("shadow rapporteurs"). The nature of these discussions will set the scene for the ultimate compromises that will be achieved by the Parliament when adopting the legislation.
Commissioner's blog (Swedish)
http://ceciliamalmstrom.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/hall-ordning-pa-ankla...
Commissioner's blog (machine translation - English)
http://bit.ly/aF25pr
Commission's June 2009 proposal
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2009/jun/eu-com-stockholm-prog.pdf
Council Conclusions:
http://www.enisa.europa.eu/media/news-items/council-cyber-crime
EDPS Opinion on the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and
of the Council on combating the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of
children and child pornography, repealing Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA
(10.05.2010)
http://www.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/webdav/site/mySite/shared/Documents/...
US, EU against Internet child porn (10.04.2010)
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Health/Story/A1Story20100410-2...
(Contribution by Joe McNamee - EDRi)